gerwitz

I bought F-class reservations for 4 from Seattle to Kona. And a pair of F-class seats from STL to SEA. (Taking the in-laws from the Midwest to Hawaii for their anniversary.)

All four of us are vegetarians. It seems that buying 1/4th of the first class cabin would offer some leverage to ask that we not eat side salads because the Gate Gourmet roulette wheel landed on turkey. I'd be happy to pay for the "special" meals if they'd just figure out how to get them to me.

But the gold customer service desk refers me to reservations, and vice versa. The usual customer service hall-of-mirrors trick.

Do any of you ridiculously-knowledgable FlyerTalkers have any advice on who I might talk to at Alaska?

missydarlin

AS doesn't offer special meals so its no suprise that the customer service agents aren't able to help. There is no procedure or precedent for that kind of thing.

I personally have an excessive attachment to the mediterranean tapas pack...which is vegan and rather tasty. It's my favorite thing to eat on the plane, other than the cheeseburger

But if you're willing to pay for special meals, why not just buy what you want to eat at Sea-Tac?

There are plenty of airside options that would cater to everyones needs and likely be better than the vegetable ravioli that you might get from catering.

Woflgang Puck's, Dish D'Lish, and Vino Volo come to mind. But I would imagine Anthony's, Waji's, and even Qdoba will have options.

gerwitz

It's certainly reasonable for us to bring our own meals onboard. But we're row 1 and having to store what we've brought and eat it cold is not quite a first-class experience!

I'm not nearly this needy flying alone for business, but I'm paying a decent amount to provide family with an enjoyable ride and thought Alaska might help. ;-)

missydarlin

My concern, and I'm sure the catering peeps will share this concern, is that even if the airline does make an attempt and create an expectation that you'll have a meal waiting... something out of our control can still go awry leaving you hungry, unprepared, and even more disappointed since you were expecting it to be handled.

Then there is always the "well if we do it for you, then everyone else will want it to"

If you want to PM me your confirmation, I can make some inquiries ... but you have to promise that you'll still pack a snack regardless of the outcome, just in case.

I won't be back in the office til Tuesday...so don't expect to hear back til at least then.

StevenSeagalFan

Can you bring something onboard the aircraft to feast on? I know that kind of defeats the purpose.

Eastbay1K

Unfortunately, AS (as we all know) has no SPMLs and it is a condition of carriage before you bought the ticket - there is no secret about it. But unlike many other service reductions, AS raced to the bottom first (or near first) on this one, years ago.

skybusrider

If an en-route special meal is what you're looking for, you may want to contact the catering companies that the FBO's use at SEA & BFI and see if they can help. They would be the one's with the experience of high quality specialized food preparation into attractive compact packaging (as many private jets are space limited). You would still have to pack it with you. Row 1 isn't helping you.

If a true first class experience is what you're interested in for your family, get a quote on a private flight with the exact food and beverages you want.
Eating at SEA before the airline flight, and bringing some snacks onboard might not sound so bad after all.

lalala

Missy has given some awesome suggestions for dining. I am not a vegetarian but will still self cater for the same flight in F. Not a fan of most of the AS menus and need more than almonds for sustenance. Better to be prepared than disappointed.

98103

I hate having to pick mushrooms and olives out of stuff.

mikelat

Too bad it's not easy to pack a Lunchbox Laboratory burger for flying

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.261 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Sure it is, just put it in the TSA-approved container; your stomach

I flew next to a LB burger SEA-LAX last year...yes I was tempted

3Cforme

The correct people to talk to still work for an airline that takes Special Meal orders for domestic First class segments. That is a short list of carriers.

lalala

Especially as a vegetarian. Not tons of options at SEA.

AS Flyer

Most restaurants have decent vegetarian options, or at least meatless options. Pallino Pastaria has nice pasta dishes without meat. Dish D'lish has some nice veggie options. Nearly every restaurant has one or more salad options. There are quite a few options if you look around.

thumbelina

EVERY person sitting in row 1 was a vegetarian--two were a married couple of East Indian descent/origin and I was one of the other two, I had never before met the person sitting next to me. I don't think the desire for special meals is as rare as AS thinks it is and perhaps they don't find out because it is most likely that vegetarians choose NOT TO FLY AS in F.

This has been a chronic problem, more on the return flight where lunch/dinner is sold than on the departing flight where one or both of the breakfast choices can be assembled without the meat, poultry or seafood.

The line I always get is...."when we did offer special meals they were never ordered". How many decades ago was that? The demographics of the population has changed and Alaska is flying into and out of markets they had minimal exposure to before.

Silicon Valley and the East Bay of SF have many vegetarians and vegetarian restaurants in Seattle are apparently plentiful and quite good.

There is no vegetarian food available at the airport in KOA and leaving egg salad sandwiches and other dairy-based food unrefrigerated for several hours in the heat of Hawaii waiting for a 4 pm flight is risky at best.

Why can't four extra fruit and cheese plates be loaded if requested online more than 24 hours before departure and reconfirmed 6 hours prior to departure? Is there a reason for an F customer to pay for it when they have already paid for a more expensive F meal?

As to having to wait until all coach passengers have bought meals before being able to ask to PAY for a fruit and cheese plate:

I would gladly give my F meal to someone in coach if they would trade me a fruit and cheese plate, but somehow I don't think the FAs would like that!

Anyone else wish to chime in again?...this topic has come up again and again.